Woodworking Essentials: Use Your Router to Build Boxes & Drawers

Woodworkers have been building boxes for at least 5,000 years. For much of that period, boxes were made using a single chunk of wood with the insides dug out to create a cavity. That’s because up until about 600 or 700 years ago, turning trees into boards was an extremely expensive process – the boards had to be handsawn (or rived) from logs, then smoothed with planes. Consequently, only the very rich owned furniture made from boards. Most people simply found suitable logs and chopped or burned away the insides.

The invention of the water-powered sawmill in 1328 caused a revolution in woodworking, including the art of making boxes and drawers. The sawmill made it possible for everyone to own boxes made out of sawed lumber, and woodworkers began to build storage units from more than just one board.

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